Trade Union Strategies in a Sophisticated Human Resource Management Environment

Sophisticated human resource management strategies, underpinned by a unitarist (rather than a pluralist) frame of reference, have the potential to undermine the role and function of trade unions. This has forced unions to `rethink' their strategies to maintain a position of relevance in this new environment. In this context, the Organising Model of unionism has emerged as a possible panacea for membership decline and a mechanism for self-transformation and renewal. This case study explores the strategic response of a union to sophisticated human resource management strategies, in the broader context of a major industrial dispute.